爱华网A New Toy
I was eight years old when our neighbours across the hall got a television. It was very small and very expensive, but that didn’t matter. It was wonderful. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modern world. Some people, the lucky ones, stayed for a while and got to watch a whole program. That was in 1948.
Soon a lot of people got new television, but not us. My parents didn’t like television. They didn’t think it was good for children. Being a good, docile son, I didn’t argue with them. But I did secretly watch television --- at my friends’ homes.
By 1955, television weren’t so expensive and they were much larger. My parents still thought television wasn’t good for us, but my sisters insisted. They said we were the only people in the neighbourhood who didn’t have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but my sisters couldn’t. Their friends laughed at them, and my sisters felt wretched, very unhappy.
One day, my youngest sister came from school and started to cry. She said she was never going back to school and that life without a television wasn’t worth living. She cried and sobbed. My parents’ usual arguments only made her more inconsolable. Nothing they said made her feel any better. Well, what could they do?
The next morning, without telling us, my parents went out and got a new TV. That afternoon an antenna was put on the roof. Suzanne came home from school and ran into the house.
“Where is it? Where is it?” she cried. “I knew it’s here.” She was breathless, and her eyes were shiny with excitement.
“It’s in the living room,” my mother said as my sister ran off to look at, to admire, this beautiful thing called a television.
Later, I asked her, “How did you know the TV was here?”
“The antenna. Now our house looks like everyone else’s.”
She has a wonderful smile on her face.
When we were young our parents allowed us to watch TV two hours a night. Oh, yes. And we couldn’t watch until our homework was finished. But after a year or two, TV wasn’t exciting or new anymore. It became just another part of our lives, like shoes or soap. My parents still had fears about TV. We were going to forget how to read, they said. And we were not going to read books because watching TV was easier, they said. And TV was going to fill our minds with violence, they said. They said lots of things like that –– once a day at least. I disagreed with them. I thought they were old-fashioned, thinking too much of old ways and ideas.
Today, people still argue about the value of TV. Nobody can deny the power of TV. It has an enormous, a very powerful, influence on our lives. On the average, Americans spend 30 hours a week watching TV. Is this influence good or bad? This is an unanswerable question indeed: It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn’t. What is good, I suppose, is that many people are concerned about TV’s influence and that we have the power to change what we don’t like.
Recently, I read an article in the newspaper about the people of Monhegan Island, 18 kilometers off the coast of Maine. These people don’t have electricity, and they decided, once again, that they liked it that way. Only a handful of people live there during the long winter, and they live without electricity –– by choice. Electricity, they think, would make things too easy and
spoil their way of life. Maybe the young people wouldn’t want to go to town dances anymore. Maybe they would be more interested in staying home and watching television.
评析：本文作者按照时间顺序，围绕自己的亲身经历讲述了电视机从刚刚问世到走进寻常百姓家的演变过程，既反映了电视这个现代社会的“新玩具”对人们生活方式的影响，又突出了新老两代人对电视的不同看法和态度。从文体上看，本文属于夹叙夹议型，主体为叙述，最后部分辅以议论作为其思想内容的升华。本文语言简单质朴，与叙事的主人翁的年龄身份非常吻合。从线索上看，可以说文章既有一条明线，即“我家”拥有电视机的前后经过；同时，还有一条贯穿全文的暗线，即老一代与新一代对于电视的不同看法，这也为文章最后的议论部分做好了铺垫。
第一段简单讲述了“我”记忆中身边第一次出现电视机的情形。直接描述非常少，只是环绕small、expensive和wonderful三个形容词，却写出了很漂亮的一行字。然后通过较多的侧面描述，用当时整个楼里的居民争相跑到五楼一饱眼福的情景烘托出人们对这个“新玩具”的无比好奇与想往。段末点出年代，使全段叙述显得利落有致。
第二段开头先用Soon a lot of people got new television, but not us制造一个小悬念，接着解释原来是父母对电视有所顾忌，从而将新老两代人对电视的不同看法自然地引入文章。作者描写自己是个听话的孩子，用了docile一词，建议同学们记下来。
第三段第二行中 but my sisters insisted简短明快地道出了两代人对电视的分歧开始升级，接下来通过妹妹们的争辩理由显示电视已经深深进入了人们的生活。结尾的一句中my sisters felt wretched, very unhappy 写得很有特色，wretched 强调一种可怜、无助的感觉，后面接其上义词unhappy，更强化了所渲染的气氛。
如果说前面几段都是略写，那么第四至十段则是对父母终于买回了电视那次经历的详写。作者的描写活龙活现，又是设问，又是对话，既有made her more inconsolable这样的抽象描写，也有her eyes were shiny with excitement 这样的形象勾勒，还有to look at, to admire 这样的递进表述（admire 意为 to look at something and think how beautiful or expressive it is）。尤其是把电视天线（antenna）作为一个“包袱”抖出来，使得满篇趣味盎然。
最后三段转向对电视这一事物的反思。第十一段还是和作者对往事的回忆糅合在一起，第十二段开头“Today”则将读者拉回到现在。在文体上，也从记叙逐渐过渡到议论。文中议论的语气很值得模仿，建议大声朗读最后两段，体会其中各种议论手段的精到布局。
在最后三段的写作风格上，我们可以学习作者驾驭自如的排比-递进手法，如第十一段中一连三句结尾都为they said，接着递进一句They said lots of things like that –– once a day at least. 又如第十二段中This is an unanswerable question indeed后面用了一个冒号，接下去就是一番递进式的发挥：It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn’t.
用英语发议论时，冒号和破折号用得比汉语多，用法也有差别，如冒号有时用于引出对论点的阐述和发挥，破折号则可用来点出一个要素，如最后一段中的they live without electricity –– by choice
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